U.S. patent application number 11/850973 was filed with the patent office on 2009-03-12 for indication tags.
Invention is credited to Moshe Greenwald.
Application Number | 20090064919 11/850973 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40430482 |
Filed Date | 2009-03-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090064919 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Greenwald; Moshe |
March 12, 2009 |
INDICATION TAGS
Abstract
A method for determining whether a garment has been used
comprising integrating an indicator tag to a garment having an
indicator material which reacts with any one of body sweat, water
or dry cleaning chemicals or provides wear down indication to
provide a visual indication of such use. A garment with an
indicator tag having an indicator material which reacts with any
one of body sweat, water or dry cleaning chemicals or provides wear
down indication to provide a visual indication of such use.
Inventors: |
Greenwald; Moshe; (New York,
NY) |
Correspondence
Address: |
OSTROLENK FABER GERB & SOFFEN
1180 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS
NEW YORK
NY
100368403
US
|
Family ID: |
40430482 |
Appl. No.: |
11/850973 |
Filed: |
September 6, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
116/201 ;
116/206; 2/243.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A41D 27/08 20130101;
G08B 13/246 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
116/201 ;
116/206; 2/243.1 |
International
Class: |
A41D 27/00 20060101
A41D027/00 |
Claims
1. A method for detecting whether a clothing garment has been worn,
comprising the steps of: a) providing an identification tag element
with an element for detection and providing an indication of
contact of said tag element with any one of: human sweat, clothing
garment cleaning materials, and materials foreign to the garment
and elements normally associated therewith; b) integrating the tag
element with the clothing garment at a position on the clothing
garment which is accessible to one of: human sweat when worn,
clothing garment cleaning materials and materials foreign to the
clothing garment and elements normally associated therewith,
respectively.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the detection element comprises a
visual indicator when said tag element is in contact with one of
the human sweat, clothing garment cleaning materials, and materials
foreign to the garment and elements normally associated therewith
and wherein the tag element, with visual indicator, is viewed to
effect the detection of the garment having been worn.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the detection element, which
provides a visual indicator comprises indicia comprised of a water
based ink which fades or disappears upon contact with sweat or
water.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the detection element, which
provides a visual indicator comprises a material which
disintegrates or is damaged upon contact with sweat or water.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the material which disintegrates
or is damaged is comprised of tissue paper.
6. The method of claim 2, wherein the detection element comprises a
litmus preparation dye.
7. The method of claim 2, wherein the detection element comprises a
material which reacts with a material used in dry cleaning of
clothing.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the material used in dry cleaning
of clothing is tetrachloroethylene and the material which reacts
with the tetrachloroethylene is an oxidizing agent which reacts
with tetrachloroethylene to release hydrogen chloride which
discolors the tag to provide the visual indication.
9. The method of claim 2, wherein the tag includes a material
having tack characteristics whereby residue materials of an
environment wherein the wearer of the garment is located is
retained for subsequent analysis.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein said residue material is
selected from gunpowder, explosives, and illicit drugs.
11. The method of claim 2, wherein the tag is of a preselected
color and said colored tag is coated with a material which is
activated by any one of water and body sweat whereby the coated
material reacts with the tag to visibly change the color to provide
the visual indicator of use.
12. A garment having an indicator tag integrated therewith wherein
the indicator tag is positioned such that when the garment is worn
or cleaned it comes into contact with a material which reacts
therewith to provide a visual indication of the garment having been
worn or cleaned.
13. The garment of claim 12, the indicator tag including a
detection element which comprises a visual indicator effective to
indicate when said tag element has contacted one or more of human
sweat, clothing garment cleaning materials, and human excretions
which produce indicative odors.
14. The garment of claim 13, wherein the visual indicator is
structured to provide visual indication of the wearing of the
garment by a human and which comprises one or more of water-based
ink, material which disintegrates or is altered upon contact with
sweat or water, and dry cleaning materials.
15. The garment of claim 14, wherein the visual indication is in
the form of a color change of at least a portion of the area on the
indicator tag.
16. A garment with an indicator tag thereon wherein the garment is
a shoe and the indicator tag comprises a rub-off wear indicator
constructed to be indicatively visible with a predetermined amount
of wearing use.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to methods and means for the
determination of prior use of new articles of clothing including
shoes and particularly for the detection of use of garments which
are returned after sale.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] A vexing problem for retailers of articles of clothing and
particularly for expensive clothing such as gowns, tuxedos
(non-rental), suits and the like is the proclivity of customers,
who have a single use need, to purchase the article of clothing and
use it. Thereafter, the customer rewraps it or cleans it (usually
with dry cleaning) and rewraps it for return to the retailer for a
refund or an exchange. The fact that the garment has been used is
usually not readily apparent, especially with only a single use.
However, if the garment is resold as new, a subsequent purchaser,
on close examination, is often unable to detect that the garment
was used. The reputation of the retailer suffers and the purchaser
is unpleasantly confronted with the fact that what was purported to
be a new garment was previously worn. This is particularly noisome
with garments which directly contact skin such as undergarments
(assuming they are returnable).
[0003] Many means are available for detection of counterfeit goods
including holograms and RF transmitters. Passive tags, used as
protection against theft and shoplifting, are difficult to remove
from articles and are designed to trigger alarms when they pass
though exit detectors (sales clerks either deactivate or remove
them at point of sale). However, few, if any expedients are
available for tracking use of legitimate items, which have been
lawfully purchased and returned.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0004] It is accordingly an object of the present invention to
provide detector elements for readily determining if an article and
particularly an article of clothing has been worn or used.
[0005] It is a further object of the present invention to provide
the detector elements as an expedient by which clothing retailers
or subsequent purchasers can determine if a garment returned by a
customer was actually worn and whether it had been cleaned.
[0006] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide
detector elements which detect and display whether a garment has
been in contact with water, body sweat, chemical stain removers,
acidic or basic media or dry cleaning chemicals.
[0007] It is a still further object of the present invention to
provide detector elements to detect trace amounts of materials such
as explosives, drugs, etc., which are subject to law enforcement or
other detection purposes.
[0008] It is another object of the present invention to provide the
detector elements in the form of tags with indicia which change in
appearance under conditions of use.
[0009] Other features and advantages of the present invention will
become apparent from the following description of the invention
which refers to the accompanying drawings
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIGS. 1a and 1b are visual examples of a tag imprinted with
water based ink in accordance with the present invention which is
affixed to a garment and which is in before and after use condition
respectively;
[0011] FIGS. 2a and 2b are visual examples of before and after use
respectively of a tag comprised of thin tissue paper with
sensitivity to water and/or sweat;
[0012] FIGS. 3a and 3b are before and after views of another
embodiment of a detection tag of a specific color which changes
upon contact with water and/or sweat; and
[0013] FIG. 4 is a tag used for detection purposes which comprises
a surface upon which detectable material (drugs, explosives, etc.)
is deposited and held for detection.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
[0014] The indicator tags of the present invention, for use with
retail sales and material use detection, provide readily apparent
appearance changes under conditions of use such as contact with
water and/or sweat, acid or base conditions, or contact with dry
cleaning chemical materials. With widespread utilization, tags
having material retention surfaces, would be useful in enabling
detection of contraband materials such as drugs and dangerous
materials such as explosives, from residue left on the tags on
clothing retrieved from suspects.
[0015] The indicator tags may be affixed to clothing such as by a
sewn connection or otherwise integrated with the garment material.
The position of the tag should preferably be selected to be at a
portion of the garment directly exposed to a user's skin such as at
the sleeves or neck portions where sweat detection is desired and
where intervening garments such as undergarments do not block
contact with body sweat.
[0016] The tag may be integrated with clothing tags such as those
which provide washing instructions, size, manufacturer, etc. with
indicia such as water soluble ink which fades or changes upon
contact or the presence of water or sweat, with the fading or
change indicating either sweat or the garment having been simply
rinsed to remove telltale grime or stains. To preclude erroneous
indications resulting from an initial try-on of the garment, the
tag may be covered prior to sale and uncovered by a sales person
upon actual purchase. Alternatively, garment items such as buttons,
necessary for actual utilization, may be tape sealed (with indicia
imprinted tape) or otherwise "inactivated" to indicate wearing use
other than a mere try-on when they are found to have been
broken.
[0017] Alternatively, with articles of clothing such as shoes,
rub-off wear indicators may be utilized to indicate usage with wear
which would normally not be visible with short use duration, e.g.
500 steps, which is longer than normal try-out use but not
sufficient to actually visibly wear down the shoes.
[0018] With respect to the embodiments depicted in the drawings,
FIGS. 1a and 1b show a shirt 1 with a water or sweat sensitive tag
10 having indicia thereon, shown as a cross line 11 in FIG. 1a. The
cross line is imprinted on the tag in water soluble ink, with the
tag being in a hidden portion of the neck 2, when worn in a
position in contact with skin of the user. Upon contact with water
or body sweat, cross line 11 in FIG. 1a either visibly fades or
disappears entirely as in FIG. 1b. Alternatively, as shown in FIGS.
2a and 2b, the tag 20 is comprised of thin tissue paper which
disappears or is damaged with use, with hollow 21 shown in FIG. 2a
disappearing, as shown in FIG. 2b.
[0019] In a third embodiment shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b, a tag 30 is
initially a pre-selected color such as blue (with the cross
hatching indicating blue). A dry layer of a stain remover (or any
other material with a similar chemical response) is spread over the
tag 30. Upon contact with moisture such as water or body sweat
which originate with use, the stain remover (or similar material)
is activated to either remove the color (such as red, with the
cross hatching indicating red) or to change it to another color as
a visually clear indication of use.
[0020] The tag 40, shown in FIG. 4, is adapted to collect and
retain detectable trace materials such as with a commercially
available low tack material fabric. The commercially available low
tack adhesive (shown as dots 41) is selected to be adherent to
fabrics and clothing but not to skin, whereby it will retain a
small but detectable residue of liquid or fine powder material. In
addition to sweat, the tag can retain materials such as explosives,
gunpowder, drugs, asbestos, or any powder or trace material which
can be used for criminal investigation or other forensic
purposes.
[0021] In a more specific vein of tag indication, another tag
embodiment is adapted to detect changes in pH (acidic or basic
changes) by means of litmus impregnation. Litmus is a water-soluble
mixture of different dyes extracted from lichens, specially
Roccella tinctoria. The mixture has CAS number 1393-92-6. It is
often absorbed onto filter paper. The resulting piece of paper or
solution with water becomes a pH indicator (one of the oldest),
used to test materials for acidity. Blue litmus paper turns red
under acidic conditions and red litmus paper turns blue under basic
(i.e. alkaline) conditions, the color change occurring over the pH
range 4.5-8.3 (at 25.degree. C.). Neutral litmus paper is purple in
color. The mixture contains 10 to 15 different dyes (Erythrolein
(or Erythrolitmin), Azolitmin, Spaniolitmin, Leucoorcein and
Leucazolitmin). Pure Azolitmin does show nearly the same effect as
litmus. The tag may either be comprised of a standard litmus paper
or a litmus impregnated fabric. It is noted that since the purpose
of the tag is fundamentally for detection of short term use, it
need not be highly durable. In this embodiment it is noted that the
skin and perspiration thereon is acidic while cleaning solutions
and materials such as soap are basic in nature and thus the litmus
is a good indicator or either wearing use or cleaning.
[0022] The use of the litmus detection embodiment is of particular
utility with articles of men's clothing since men tend to have more
acidic perspiration with attendant more pronounced litmus color
change indication.
[0023] A further embodiment is a tag which is sensitive to common
chemicals utilized in dry cleaning such as tetrachloroethylene (or
other dry cleaning compounds). Tetrachloroethylene
Cl.sub.2C.dbd.CCl.sub.2 is a manufactured chemical compound that is
widely used for the dry cleaning of fabrics and for
metal-degreasing. It is also used to make other chemicals and is
used in some consumer products. Other names for tetrachloroethylene
include perchloroethylene, perc, PCE, and tetrachloroethene. It is
a nonflammable liquid at room temperature. It evaporates easily
into the air and has a sharp, sweet odor. Most people can smell
tetrachloroethylene when it is present in the air at a
concentration of 1 part per million (1 ppm), although some can
smell it at even lower levels. Tags which have been adapted to
retain such concentrations can be odor tested. More reliably
however, tetrachloroethylene is decomposed by nascent oxygen by a
suitable oxidizing agent contained in a tag to liberate hydrogen
chloride which discolors an indicator in the tag to purple.
[0024] Although the present invention has been described in
relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations
and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those
skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present
invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but
only by the appended claims.
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